Heat applied transfers include a variety of indicia with inks, material layers, and adhesives that become bonded to material layers, for example, apparel such as shirts, jackets, or the like, upon pressurized contact and heating of the transfers and apparel between press platens. New developments in the construction and composition of lettering have resulted in high quality transfers that can be accurately and quickly transferred to the apparel without bleeding or partial interruptions in the bonding of the transfer, as long as the presses can be operated at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time and at a predetermined pressure. Nevertheless, heat applied transfer presses must be simple, manually operated devices in order to satisfy the user's need to economically but quickly apply various lettering, symbols and numbering indicia selected by a customer and which must be applied to a selected piece of apparel. Such an apparatus must accommodate many variations in the arrangement of transfers and apparel, as well as the types of transfers and apparel materials available.
The accuracy and precision of the temperature, the pressure and the time duration for which these parameters are applied to the transfers are particularly important to complete an efficient bonding of the transfers to materials. In particular, depending upon materials and the structure of the indicia to be applied to the apparel, indicia may be subject to inconsistent application conditions throughout the surface of apparel to which the transfer is applied. For example, excessive temperature may cause the ink or adhesive to bleed into the apparel material so that the indicia becomes discolored or a blend of different colors thus changing the original appearance of the indicia intended to be applied. Likewise, the application of excessive pressure may cause bleeding of the colors while insufficient pressure between the platen pressing surfaces may result in blotched or unattached areas where the indicia failed to adhere completely to the garment.
Many recent developments in heat applied transfer presses have improved the accuracy of temperature maintenance in the platens. Other improvements have permitted variation in the amount of pressure which is applied or the manner in which the pressure is applied between the upper and lower platens. Temperature monitoring has also been improved with more accurate thermocouples and digital readouts readily visible to users of the transfer press. Nevertheless, with all these improvements, the efficient and complete transfer of heat applied transfer indicia to apparel and other items is still primarily dependent upon the attention and dedication of the user of the press for the reason that the time dependent application of temperature and pressure necessary to complete the transfer requires the manual intervention of the user. In particular, while the time may be accurately determined and indicated, and the temperature and pressure may be maintained precisely and accurately throughout the predetermined time, the release and separation of the platens is entirely manually controlled by the operator in timely response to the indicator's messages to the user.
Moreover, there may be differences in the manner in which users actuate opening and closing of the platen, or arranging of the material and transfer indicia which are to be applied to the apparel material. For example, individual lettering indicia may not be properly spaced if the open position of the platens in the transfer press obstructs the manipulation of lettering over the surface of the platen. Further the open position of the platen should not expose the users' hands to contact with the heated platen during arrangement of the transfers. Moreover, environmental structures such as counter tops, cash registers or retail racks can restrict the movement or spacing of the platens and limit free movement during arrangement of transfer and apparel over the pressing surface of the platen on which the apparel and transfers are retained during pressing.
Furthermore, the release of pressure to the platens by a manual operator is often accompanied by simultaneous and rapid displacement of the platens away from each other. Forced manual displacement of the platens with a not fully cured or incompletely bonded indicia may tend to detach the transfer from the apparel to which it is applied. For example, surface contact adhesion between the pressing surface and the transfer as well as the suction created by rapid separation of the large area platen surfaces may contribute to sticking of the indicia upon the platen rather than the apparel. Of course, once the indicia has been applied to the garment, corrections cannot be easily made, and defective applications may result in the disposal of an entire expensive garment in order to correct a mistake. Such consequences are hardly justifiable and are intolerable where the user of the press is conscientiously attempting to rapidly produce decorated apparel while following all recommendations regarding proper timing, temperature and pressure regulation provided by the manufacturer.